Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Staunton, June 25 – United Russia,
the party of power, is supporting the candidacies of some opposition figures in
municipal and other local races but only where the latter have “practically no
chances for victory,” an arrangement that Moscow analysts say is not filtering
out “extremism” as is sometimes claimed but rather any “political competition.”

Given that some Russians and many
more Western observers see the presence of opposition figures in elections at
any level of the Russian system as progress toward democracy, this arrangement
makes it clear that the Putin regime is committed to maintaining its
authoritarian control rather than opening the country to political pluralism.

In a “Nezavisimaya gazeta” article
this week, Aleksandr Samarina, who writes on political issues for that Moscow
paper, provides details about this anti-democratic practice from around the
Russian Federation, clearly suggesting that it is a concerted policy rather
than the actions of specific individuals (ng.ru/politics/2014-06-23/1_opposition.html).

Nikolay Petrov, a Russian political
scientist, says that such arrangements give the appearance of competition but
ensure that the Kremlin controls the situation.When the center feels strong, it will allow competitors; when it doesn’t
in any particular place, it will eliminate them either by appointing opposition
figures to new posts or using other forms of pressure.

Moreover, he continues, “the
authorities are interested that candidates from the opposition overcome the
filter [of such elections] not independently but with the help of ‘the elder
brother,’” in this case, United Russia.That
gives the Kremlin still more control while providing a Potemkin Village
appearance of competition.

Such arrangements, Samarina notes, “demonstrate
the absence” of a truly competitive opposition and thus undercut suggestions
that the Russian elite is in any way divided.They in fact have become “a mega-regulator of gubernatorial campaigns.”
But they do little to add to the legitimacy of the system at least among
Russians.